Listening to the Voices in my Head

As if I really needed another reason to dislike Windows 10

Did I say dislike? No, I mean LOATHE.

Windows 10 took into its programing to 'scan' two of my external drives. One drive it wiped every file out of that in one directory of one drive, and then blew out the partition on another drive.

I am currently on my Windows 7 drive, using data recovery software. So far, it's found the missing partition and all the file. When the scan is complete, i will click on RECOVER, and that will be one problem fixed.

What gets me, is the drive with the folder wiped clean, reads as if those files are still taking space, so hopefully, they can be recovered, also.

I guess it was inevitable

Plodding through the last of the Windows 7 Cumulative updates. Started with 18 of them, been working my way through the list in chronological order.  I read people raving about Windows 10, how great it is, but I read even more people ranting about it, especially since many tried and true pieces of software are blocked from being used (unless you know how to get to the PowerShell or othersuch things to work your way around it)  

I threw in the towel for when it came to the Windows 7 updates.  Total Media Center was a helluva lot better than anything else out on the market now.  BUT the idiot company 'forgot' to pay Dolby their royalties, and further development came to a halt. That media center is what kept me from installing the Quarterly Roll Ups, because it would disable TMT.  But alas, all good things must come to an end, whether you like it or not.  I've had a few hiccups and glitches after updating Win 7 (my Hotkey program isn't loading at start up, but I can start it afterward. Might just need reinstalling to fix whatever the updating has screwed up)

Once I get Win 7 set to rights, then comes the fun part. Finding a way to get %#$#$$% Windows 10 to update like it's supposed to WITHOUT having to 'refresh', as some software I have is charged per installation, not per machine. And let me tell you, that really sucks.  And when I get fed up with the nagging nannyware of Windows 10, I will hie on back to Windows 7.

Hurray, for the dual boot system.

Plodding through the last of the Windows 7 Cumulative updates. Started with 18 of them, been working my way through the list in chronological order.  I read people raving about Windows 10, how great it is, but I read even more people ranting about it, especially since many tried and true pieces of software are blocked from being used (unless you know how to get to the PowerShell or othersuch things to work your way around it)  

I threw in the towel for when it came to the Windows 7 updates.  Total Media Center was a helluva lot better than anything else out on the market now.  BUT the idiot company 'forgot' to pay Dolby their royalties, and further development came to a halt. That media center is what kept me from installing the Quarterly Roll Ups, because it would disable TMT.  But alas, all good things must come to an end, whether you like it or not.  I've had a few hiccups and glitches after updating Win 7 (my Hotkey program isn't loading at start up, but I can start it afterward. Might just need reinstalling to fix whatever the updating has screwed up)

Once I get Win 7 set to rights, then comes the fun part. Finding a way to get %#$#$$% Windows 10 to update like it's supposed to WITHOUT having to 'refresh', as some software I have is charged per installation, not per machine. And let me tell you, that really sucks.  And when I get fed up with the nagging nannyware of Windows 10, I will hie on back to Windows 7.

Hurray, for the dual boot system.

Plodding through the last of the Windows 7 Cumulative updates. Started with 18 of them, been working my way through the list in chronological order.  I read people raving about Windows 10, how great it is, but I read even more people ranting about it, especially since many tried and true pieces of software are blocked from being used (unless you know how to get to the PowerShell or othersuch things to work your way around it)  

I threw in the towel for when it came to the Windows 7 updates.  Total Media Center was a helluva lot better than anything else out on the market now.  BUT the idiot company 'forgot' to pay Dolby their royalties, and further development came to a halt. That media center is what kept me from installing the Quarterly Roll Ups, because it would disable TMT.  But alas, all good things must come to an end, whether you like it or not.  I've had a few hiccups and glitches after updating Win 7 (my Hotkey program isn't loading at start up, but I can start it afterward. Might just need reinstalling to fix whatever the updating has screwed up)

Once I get Win 7 set to rights, then comes the fun part. Finding a way to get %#$#$$% Windows 10 to update like it's supposed to WITHOUT having to 'refresh', as some software I have is charged per installation, not per machine. And let me tell you, that really sucks.  And when I get fed up with the nagging nannyware of Windows 10, I will hie on back to Windows 7.

Hurray, for the dual boot system.

Poor Loki

He's resorting to sleeping on my foot.  Since I had the total knee replacement, I can't cross my left ankle to the top of my right knee, because the right knee hurts when I do that.  And I can't flex the right knee enough to  rest my right ankle on my left knee. 

He used to sleep on my lap, using my dress as a hammock, but now he has to resort to sleeping on my foot.  And now my foot is asleep, but I'm not going to move him.

A moment of silence

For our 19 year old refrigerator.  Luckily I noticed it before everything in the freezer thawed. It was the the small turkey I got last weekend that was frozen that kept most of what was in the freezer frozen. 

Measured the how wide and deep the now dead fridge was, then headed out to Fridge and Washer City.  This time, I was in the market for one with the freezer on the bottom. Armed with measuring tape, and reading labels, I selected on that was exactly what I wanted.  I asked if it could be delivered today, as I had insulin and other medications in need of refrigeration (I put them in a small insulated lunch box, with some semi thawed ice packs to keep them cool).  Was told it could be, and they would take the old one.  Worked for me! Made the credit card temporarily smoke by paying for it.

Alan and I went home, and started offloading what was in the freezer into an 'esky' aka cooler. We packed everything we could around the turkey.  Then we went to the fridge.  Yuck.  The smell of things that went off combined to create a really nasty smell.  While we were cleaning that out, the new fridge arrived. We weren't done yet, so we busted out butts getting everything out, sorted, packed or tossed.

Talk about an intense 30 minute work out!  I am sore... Tramadol sore. This is the first time in months I have needed the prescription pain meds.

Wing said he would cook tonight. Gawd, I Love that man. He's also bringing home some 3M sticky tabs so we can re-hang the cooking utensils on the side of the fridge.

 

Did I mention I was sore?  Oh yeah, I did.

Just two a day

Slogging through all the Windows 7 "Cumulative Updates" I passed on installing so I could keep using one my favorite Blu-Ray players.  But it's come to the time that I just uninstalled it, and have installing the rather backed up Cumulative updates.  There are quite a few, but they take so long to download, and then to install, just going to do two a day.

Have to say, not happy about having to do this, but seeing as Micro$oft is going to be ending official support in 2020, it behooved me to get the updates installed, regardless how many programs Micro$oft suddenly deemed unworthy or out of date.

Had a good conversation with my GP today

We discussed the blurry vision when trying to focus on something (like reading books) and it is a normal side effect of Lyrica. It *should* settle itself after a while.
 
Discussed the Lorazepam. I told him I was taking half of what he proscribed. I had tried with the two tabs, three times a day, but I was just too wonked out. I told him I discovered that a sharp, loud, sudden sound would start to trigger a seizure. Even watching a car accident on TV would make my leg and arm start twitching.  Discovering one seizure trigger is a good thing. 

Got my flu shot, and my arm is already sore, but it was something I expected.  Ordered vaccination for shingles, which is currently in my fridge, as I have to wait a few weeks between vaccinations.

Oh, yes, forgot, told him about doing 30 minutes a day on my stationary bike, and how it makes the tendons in my leg feel very stiff and sore. He suggested I get an elliptical trainer. It will be discussed with Wing, and I will try one out first. If my leg can't handle the elliptical treadmill/trainer, I can still keep using the stationary bike.

Keito has turned into a cranky old man

Before dawn, I felt a nip on the back of my upper arm. This isn't anything unusual, as it's something Keito has done for years. But when he didn't get the response he wanted, he *bit* me. Hard enough to bruise and break the skin, but not hard enough to bleed.

I yelled at him, swatted at him, and told Wing to put him outside. My upper arm looks like I have a healed miniature vampire bite.

Ok, but some will have no need to bother.

Skylum has come out with Luminar Flex, which as far as I can tell, is Luminar 3 but without the system crashing 'cataloging' feature.

It claims to support Lightroom (classic) and Photoshop, but the plugin didn't install in Photoshop CS6, even though there was nothing about what VERSION of Photoshop as in it had to be "Creative Cloud" (aka Rent me Forever)  As I have typed before, I have an older version of CC on my computer, and it just sits there for issues like this. I installed Luminar Flex, then went into Programs\Common Files\Adobe\PhotoshopCC\ and copied it over to the Photoshop CS6 (and CS5)directory, and it works without a problem.

Skylum claimed it was a freebie for those who purchased that disaterous Luminar 3, but I had to use one of my Luminar 3 license activations to use it (I will be emailing them regarding that).  As for Flex's functionality, it's much better than Luminar 3. As I am old school, and make my own catalogs of photos, and events, the cataloging feature was of no use to me, so having Flex as a straight up plugin works much better for my work flow.  I still use On1PhotoRaw for developing and the majority of the 'heavy lifting', but sometimes, I have to add a little something from other photo processing programs that On1 lacks.  (Sorry, On1, you know I'm a big fan, but even well known On1 photographers use Lightroom for other tweaks).

If your system can handle Luminar 3 (mine is no slouch, but even with this beast, Luminar 3 would grind things to a glacial crawl) there's no real need for Flex.  But for me, personally, Flex is a much better fit than Luminar 3 in my Photoshop workflow.

Back to using Windows 7

Just when I was getting close to.. appreciating Windows 10.

Shut everything down as normal, and when I booted back into Windows 10, it all seemed to go ok. Tried to start my browser. It wouldn't start. I tried to start compatibility mode to see if that was the issue, and that wouldn't start for it.  Next step, reinstall and reinstall. Nope, didn't work.  Searched the web. Why isn't it the only solution Windows Tech comes up with is either : a clean boot, or reinstall of the OS.  Well, the clean boot didn't do diddly squat, and a reinstall is like killing a mosquito with a sledgehammer.

And for some bizarre reason, both Windows 7 and 10 want to run chkdsk on all the drives.  Why?  I have no idea. I can see running it if the system drive shut down unexpectedly, but this wanting to scan external data drives?

So, booted into Windows, and everything is running just fine.  Browser started without any problems.

I think the next time I boot into Windows 10, I will make a back up of my browser profiles, deactivate programs, and just f**king reinstall windows 10. There's something wrong with it. Maybe start fresh.  I cringe at all the time I'm going to have to waste reinstalling program, and begging one software maker (Panolapse) to please give me a new key for my program, and just reinstall.